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The series follows John Novak, an idealistic first-year Englishteacher at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles who often got involved in the lives of his students and fellow teachers. Principal Albert Vane was played by Dean Jagger (he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1964 and 1965 for his performance). Jagger left the series in 1964 after forty-four episodes, and it was explained that his character was elected California Superintendent of Public Instruction; Burgess Meredith played the new principal, Martin Woodridge, for the remaining seventeen episodes.

The school seen in Mr. Novak duplicated Los Angeles' John Marshall High School "complete to walks, shrubs, and parking."[2] After using the school itself for the pilot, the duplicate was built at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, the "largest permanent set to be constructed [there] in a number of years."[2] The complete set filled an acre at the studio. Other construction on the MGM sound stages included duplicates of corridors and classrooms.[2]

The show, produced by MGM Television, was broadcast on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Eastern time). In its first season, Mr. Novak's principal competition was the ABC series Combat!, and the second half of the hour-long The Red Skelton Show on CBS. In the second season, the competition was still Combat! on ABC, and the documentary series World War One on CBS. Skelton was moved a half-hour later in December 1964.